Soloing Ice climber falls to death off Cascade Falls

A male ice climber in his mid-20s died when he fell to his death soloing on a popular ice climbing route on Cascade Mountain in Banff on Christmas Day, 2018. Photo credit Marie Conboy/ Crag and Canyon.BA

A male ice climber in his mid-20s died when he fell to his death soloing on a popular ice climbing route on Cascade Mountain in Banff on Christmas Day, 2018.

Banff RCMP released a press statement stating that at approximately 11:00 a.m. they responded to a 911 call of a sudden death of a male ice-climbing on a popular route on the Cascade Falls.

“He was pronounced deceased on scene, and the initial investigation revealed he had succumbed to his injuries which were the result of falling a significant distance down the ice climb.”

Soloing is a style of climbing in which the climber climbs alone, without the assistance of a belay, relying entirely on his or her ability instead.

Cascade Falls is a 300-metre climb which can seen from the Trans-Canada Highway driving west from Calgary to Banff, it is popular as the approach takes less than 10 minutes. Many climbers have died on the route in the past, it is not considered by climbers to be a hard route, but one that has a lot of exposure with avalanche threat.

Banff RCMP said the name of the deceased male has not yet been released as the investigation is still on-going.

This death adds to a number of deaths recorded in the Canadian Rockies in 2018, including a rock climber on Yamnuska, a rock climber on Tunnel Mountain, a hiker on East end of Rundle Mountain, a hiker near Rawson Lake and a hiker in Kananaskis Country.